Domain Administrative Data in Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
RFC 3663

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• 04

Network Working Group                                          A. Newton
Request for Comments: 3663                                VeriSign, Inc.
Category: Experimental                                     December 2003

                       Domain Administrative Data
            in Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

Status of this Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
   Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   Domain registration data has typically been exposed to the general
   public via Nicname/Whois for administrative purposes.  This document
   describes the Referral Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
   Service, an experimental service using LDAP and well-known LDAP types
   to make domain administrative data available.

Newton                        Experimental                      [Page 1]
RFC 3663           Domain Administrative Data in LDAP      December 2003

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       1.1.  Historical Directory Services for Domain Registration
             Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       1.2.  Motivations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       1.3.  Abbreviations Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  Service Description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Registry LDAP Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       3.1.  TLD DIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
             3.1.1.  DIT Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
             3.1.2.  Allowed Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
             3.1.3.  Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       3.2.  Name Server DIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
             3.2.1.  DIT Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
             3.2.2.  Allowed Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       3.3.  Registrar Referral DIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
             3.3.1.  DIT Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.  Registrar LDAP Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       4.1.  TLD DIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
             4.1.1.  DIT Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
             4.1.2.  Allowed Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
             4.1.3.  Access Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       4.2.  Name Server and Contact DIT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
             4.2.1.  DIT Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
             4.2.2.  Allowed Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   5.  Clients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   6.  Lessons Learned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.1.  Intra-Server Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       6.2.  Inter-Server Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       6.3.  Common DIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       6.4.  Universal Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
       6.5.  Targeting Searches by Tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
       6.6.  Data Mining. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   7.  IANA Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   8.  Internationalization Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   9.  Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   10. Intellectual Property Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   11. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   Appendix A.  Other Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   Appendix B.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
   Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Newton                        Experimental                      [Page 2]
RFC 3663           Domain Administrative Data in LDAP      December 2003

1.  Introduction

   This document describes the Referral Lightweight Directory Access
   Protocol (LDAP) Service, an experimental project launched by
   VeriSign, Inc., to explore the use of LDAP and LDAP-related
   technologies for use as a directory service of administrative domain
   registration information.

1.1.  Historical Directory Services for Domain Registration Data

   The original National Science Foundation contract for the InterNIC
   called for the creation of an X.500 directory service for the
   administrative needs of the domain registration data and information.
   Due to problems with implementations of X.500 server software, a